Atlas Shrugged: Ten Lessons From Dagny Taggart

So opens Ayn Rand’s capitalist opus Atlas Shrugged which is released today as a self-financed film that will appear in limited release in theaters across the country. If you haven’t lifted a copy of the 1,000 page novel since college, here’s a brush-up: Dagny Taggart struggles to run a railroad in a not-so-distant future in which business leaders keep going AWOL and society seems ready to fall apart. Government regulation is constantly getting in her way and her self-righteous do-gooder friends and colleagues are no help either.

Taggart is a beautiful, powerful female executive who Rand holds up as an example of her objectivism philosophy. Some call the book propaganda masquerading as art. Critics are panning the movie, saying it fails to live up “even to the level of ‘eh’ suggested by its title” (see the trailer below and let me know what you think) and the libertarians have already staked their claim on it. But as a girl who’s read Atlas Shrugged an embarrassing number of times for someone who believes herself both intelligent and assertive, I can say one thing: Dagny Taggart is a kick-ass role model for women in business. She knows what she wants, how she wants it, and most importantly, what she’s willing to do to get it.

Ignore The Haters.

Taggart is met with opposition at every turn in managing the railroad. But she learned at an early age that it was more important to be competent than to be liked.

“I’ve always been unpopular in school and it didn’t bother me, but now I’ve discovered the reason. It’s an impossible kind of reason. They dislike me, not because I do things badly, but because I do them well. They dislike me because I’ve always had the best grades in class. I don’t even have to study. i always get A’s. Do you suppose I should try to get D’s for a change and become the most popular girl in school?”

Don’t Argue, Just Do.

When the government puts a moratorium on steel production, instead of wasting her breath making presentations at board meetings, Taggart’s tact is to simply find someone who’ll do the job regardless. The board doesn’t like it, but it works.

It was useless to argue, she thought, and to wonder about people who would neither refute an argument nor accept it.

Don’t Let A Man Boss You Around—Unless, Of Course, You Like It.

Taggart seems the perfect feminist: single, defiant, not in need of a man. But she takes a certain pleasure in pleasing the people she loves.

James Taggart: “You haven’t any pride at all. The way you run when he whistles and wait on him! Why don’t you shine his shoes?“ Dagny: “Because he hasn’t told me to.”

And then there’s this…

She knew, only when he did it, that she had known he would. He seized her, she felt her lips on his mouth, felt her arms grasping him on violent answer, and knew for the first time how much she had wanted him to do it.

Praise Good Work.

You want to be recognized for your own accomplishments, and Taggart is quick to congratulate her colleagues, competitors and even enemies for theirs.

The sight of an achievement was the greatest gift a human being could offer to others.

Go With Your Gut.

It was the greatest sensation of existence: not to trust, but to know.

Don’t Let Your Ego Get The Best Of You.

“Don't ever get angry at a man for stating the truth.”

Beauty Is A Weapon—Especially When Battling Other Women.

Taggart may be beautiful, but her appearance isn’t something she gives much thought to—her interest lie in building her business more than, say, trips to Elizabeth Arden for a blowout—but when she gets done up for a party, the surprise appearance of her femininity throws a nemesis off-kilter:

Lillianmoved forward to meet her, studying her with curiosity. They had met before, on infrequent occasions, and she found it strange to see dagny taggart wearing an evening gown. It was a black dress with a bodice that fell as a cape over one arm and shoulder, leaving the other bare: the naked shoulder was the gown’s only ornament. Seeing her in the suits she wore, one never thought of dagny taggart’s body. The black dress seemed excessively revealing – because it was astonishing to discover that the lines of her shoulder were fragile and beautiful, and that the diamond band on the wrist of her naked arm gave her the most feminine of all aspects: the look of being chained.

Don’t Walk Around When You Can Cut Straight Across.

“The straight line is the badge of man, the straight line of a geometrical abstraction that makes roads, rails and bridges, the straight line that cuts the curving aimlessness of nature by a purposeful motion from a start to an end.”

Don’t Threaten To Do Something Unless You Can Follow Through.

Once her plans to build a railroad out of a new experimental metal are thrown out by Taggart Transcontinental’s board, Dagny doesn’t even threaten, she just announces she’s gone—and walks out the door. If that’s not impressive, this should be: Her startup is in business in days and is more successful than anyone dreamed.

Just Do You.

Dagny shared her view with her shrinking violet sister-in-law:

“You don't have to see through the eyes of others, hold onto yours, stand on your own judgment, you know that what is, is–say it aloud, like the holiest of prayers, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.”

I spent four years as Forbes' Girl Friday, which to me meant doing a little bit of everything at once. As a member of the Forbes Entrepreneurs team, I looked at booming business and startup life with a female gaze. I worked on the PowerWomen Wealth and Celebrity 100 lists, k...